Mir Farhat
SRINAGAR, Feb 16: Six-years have passed since the Central University was established in Ganderbal district, but the varsity is still without a permanent campus and is working from rented accommodations, scattered at different places in the Srinagar city.
Proposed in 2009 to be built at Tulmulla in district Ganderbal, the varsity has seen no progress in terms of building infrastructure as it was caught up in many issues, prime among them being the demand of jobs by landowners in addition to the land compensation.
The authorities began land acquisition in 2009 but failed to resolve issues with land owners before acquiring their land.
Others issues like selection of land site is putting a challenge before the engineers and constructors. The land site is a marsh land and it requires a lot of engineering work to raise foundation and then buildings on it.
Dr. Mehraj-ud-Din Mir, the acting Vice-Chancellor of CUK told Excelsior that the work on the construction is slow but it is in progress.
Mir said that the site selected for the varsity is of “poor quality which is the major hurdle in the construction of buildings.”
“Before laying foundation, engineers said that piling has to be done for it. Earlier the engineers proposed that piles measuring 7.5 meters deep in the ground will be raised. But later they proposed piles of upto 11.5 meters. These extra four meters are under consideration and this is one issue,” he said.
He said that issues with landowners took six months to negotiate. “Finally the landowners are around the table. They want jobs in addition to the compensation. Recently, we told them that 70 percent of unskilled and unskilled jobs will be given to them in preference,” he said.
Mir said that price escalation of construction material is also being reconsidered as the work has got delayed.
Though the acting VC admitted that “progress of work is very slow”, but he did not give any deadline about when the work will start on the campus.
“I can’t say anything about when the work will begin. We are following the process rigorously. We have to work within the funds allotted to us,” he said.
The varsity operates from rented accommodations at Magramal Bagh, Sonwar and Zainakote in Srinagar city.
“The scattered accommodation is giving us a lot of trouble. We do not feel like we are university students. We feel like going to attend coaching centers,” one of the students studying at the Magarmal Bagh centre of the varsity said.
The university authorities find it tough to run 11 Departments of English, Urdu, Education, Law, Tourism and Management, Information Technology, Management, Economics, besides some undergraduate courses.
Equally, the lack of proper campus is playing on the psyche of the faculty as well, who get it very difficult to teach students in rooms which are not fit for classrooms.
A university official said that the main problem with starting work was created by some politicians, who promised jobs to farmers in lieu of their land.
Pertinently, the former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that the varsity will be established in Ganderbal, which was his constituency then.
“We have been promised jobs by the then Government. It is only because of the job promise that we provided our land. Until we are given jobs we will raise our voice,” the landowners said, adding they have been paid the compensation.
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